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Thomas Braatz wrote (January 15, 2002):
Provenance:
The original set of parts went to CPE Bach. These parts were subsequently acquired by Zelter (the composer) who then put them in the repository of the Berliner Singakademie. In 1854 this set of parts was acquired by the Berlin State Library (Deutsche Staatsbibliothek Berlin). The autograph score, which must have existed when CPE Bach received the parts, had several mvts. missing, when Zelter received the cantata. Zelter then used the parts to reconstruct the score for mvts. 2, 4, and 8, and filled in the missing text for mvt. 3.
The title on top of pg. 1 in Bach’s hand is:
J J Concerto. Domica 1. post Epiphan. di Joh Seb:Bach.
ao 1724.
1st Performance:
January 9, 1724
The autograph score referred to above is based on yet another, earlier original score (lost) [Alberto Basso in his article on this cantata --in the Oxford Composer Companions—must be referring to this one instead.] The NBA editors can not exclude the possibility of a date of composition and performance prior to 1724 (possibly during the Weimar Period.) They have allowed for three possibilities:
1) The harpsichord part (the only part using paper with a watermark from the Weimar Period) might indicate that it was later included in the new (1724) ersion/composition of the cantata. The autograph corrections in the part might indicate that Bach modified it in order to include it in the 1724 composition.
2) The aria mvts. (1?), 4, and 7 had been composed earlier and received a new text for the 1724 performance. Although the original text was the same in all sources, mvts. 4 and 7 give evidence of considerable variations in the text. The chorale (mvt. 3) seems to have undergone changes in the text as well, since the note values in the measures with the fermata indicate changes made necessary by text lines containing different numbers of syllables.
3) The cantata is a completely new composition without any previous version having ever existed. Bach used a leftover sheet with the Weimar Period watermark because a blank sheet was still included in the materials to be used for BWV 155, the cantata to be performed on the Sunday directly following this one: (Jan. 16, 1724 in Leipzig.)
A later performance (again based on watermark analysis) took place on either Jan. 8, 1736 or the following year on Jan. 13, 1737.
Text:
The librettist is unknown.
Mvt. 1: lines 3 & 4 “O Schwert, das durch die Seele dringt, o Donnerwort in meinen Ohren” are related to the beginning of the chorale by Johann Rist (1642): “O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, o Schwert, das durch die Seele bohrt” used by Bach in BWV 20 and BWV 60. cf. Luke 2, 35: “auch durch deine Seele wird ein Schwert dringen“ Simeon’s words to Mary.
Mvt. 3: This is the 2nd vs. of the chorale, “Jesu, meiner Seelen Wonne” by Martin Jahn, 1661, which in turn has the same melody as “Werde munter, mein Gemüthe” composed by Johann Schop, 1642, which is the same melody as “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” used in two mvts. of BWV 147.
Mvt. 5: Luke 2, 49: „Wißt ihr nicht, daß ich sein muß in dem, was meines Vaters ist?“
Mvt. 6: Song of Solomon 2,8: “Da ist die Stimme meines Freundes!“
Mvt. 8: This is the 6th vs. of the chorale, “Meinen Jesum laß ich nicht” by Christian Keymann (1658). The melody is by Andreas Hammerschmidt (1658). |
